Lila Chatfield

My name is Lila Chatfield and I am an artist focused on quilts and occasionally ceramics and painting, living in Brighton, UK. My colourful hand sewn wall hangings are narrative and expressive in style, embracing a contemporary folk aesthetic. Thematically, my work germinates from mundane happenings and often explores stories of mental states, cognitive dissonance and the edges of birth and death.I draw upon current popular culture, worldwide events and the wilderness of dreams to compose my work which features both abstract and figurative details. I play in an intuitive, improvisational way, often with discarded or vintage cloth and found objects. The boundaries of what is and isn’t a quilt are blurred in my work, which often features sculptural elements. My wall hangings are almost completely hand sewn, imbuing them with an organic feel that embraces the joy of the imperfect and the unexpected. A self-taught artist, I studied English and American Studies at the University of Sussex and worked as a secondary English teacher and later as an education officer before dedicating my time to my art practice.

I grew up in rural France before moving to study in Portland, Oregon, and Brighton, UK, where I currently reside. Living between two cultures as a child and teenager required me to be able to sit with conflicting identities on a daily basis, always slightly removed and as such offering opportunities for observation and comparison. This characteristic, added to my education in France and the US where education is typically broader in scope, has brought a playful eclecticism to my work where viewers can observe influences from science, folklore, literature, history, music, current events and popular culture. A self-taught artist, I studied English and American Studies at the University of Sussex and Reed College where I explored an array of classes such as 'The Uncanny', 'The Graphic Novel' and 'The Music of Duke Ellington' which continue to influence her work today. Originally focused on knitting and mending, these pursuits gave way to quilts as they offer a more varied means of self-expression and story-telling. I worked as a secondary English teacher and later as a charity education officer before dedicating my time to her art practice.